Learn more about Battle Ready:

From the Publisher:In his first three Commanders books, Tom Clancy teamed with Generals Fred Franks, Jr., Chuck Horner, and Carl Stiner to provide masterful blends of history, biography, you-are-there narrative, insight into the practice of leadership, and plain, old-fashioned storytelling. Battle Ready is all of that-and it is also something more.

Marine General Tony Zinni was known as the "Warrior Diplomat" during his nearly forty years of service. As a soldier, his credentials were impeccable, whether leading troops in Vietnam, commanding hair-raising rescue operations in Somalia, or-as Commander in Chief of CENTCOM-directing strikes against Iraq and Al Qaeda. But it was as a peacemaker that he made just as great a mark-conducting dangerous troubleshooting missions all over Africa, Asia, and Europe; and then serving as Secretary of State Colin Powell's special envoy to the Middle East, before disagreements over the 2003 Iraq War and its probable aftermath caused him to resign.

Battle Ready follows the evolution of both General Zinni and the Marine Corps, from the cauldron of Vietnam through the operational revolution of the seventies and eighties, to the new realities of the post-Cold War, post-9/11 military-a military with a radically different job and radically different tools for accomplishing it. It is an eye-opening book-a front-row seat to a man, an institution, and a way of both war and peace that together make this an instant classic of military history.

About the Author:Tom Clancy is the author of thirteen novels, most recently The Teeth of the Tiger, and the Commanders books Into the Storm, Every Man a Tiger, and Shadow Warriors.

Annotation:In this fourth nonfiction entry in the Commanders series, bestselling military thriller writer Tom Clancy, Marine General Tony Zinni, and writer Tony Koltz examine Zinni's career of nearly 40 years, including his command postings in Asia, Africa, and Europe; his position as Commander-in-Chief of CENTCOM; and his vital missions of diplomacy all over the globe, concluding with his role as Secretary of State Colin Powell's special envoy to the Middle East. Given Zinni's extensive experience in tracking and confronting Saddam Hussein, readers will be particularly interested in his perspective on the decisions leading up to the war in Iraq, as well as the post-war situation in that country.

Author Bio

Tom Clancy

An insurance executive well into his late 30s, Tom Clancy first hit fame and fortune with the spy thriller "The Hunt for Red October", the sales of which soared when President Ronald Reagan called it a personal favorite. Though Clancy was never a military man himself, due to poor eyesight, he closely studied declassified military documents and used the technical information he gleaned from them to write his best-selling thrillers. Most of Clancy's novels feature ex-marine Jack Ryan, an intelligence analyst working with the CIA. Often the reluctant hero, Ryan battles foes such as international terrorists and powerful drug lords, often finding himself deeply immersed in the high-stakes world of espionage.

Praise

Times Literary Supplement"The United States could use a few more leaders like Tony Zinni." - Warren I. Cohen 07/30/2004

New York Review of Books"...Zinni's [descriptions are] vivid...[and] down-to-earth....Zinni's views [on the 2003 invasion of Iraq] are persuasive....With luck, we have not seen the last of General Zinni." - Brian Urquhart 09/23/2004